Aston Villa (aka the Villans) are the third team to be promoted from the Championship to the Premier League for the 2019/20 season, joining Norwich City and Sheffield United. They will replace Cardiff City, Fulham and Huddersfield Town who were the 3 teams relegated from the Premier League to the Championship last season.
How did they fare last season en route to promotion?
The previous season was a case of so near, yet so far for Aston Villa as they lost to Fulham in the Championship play-off final, and were thus determined to go one better this time around. However, their pre-season was a very turbulent one as the club were in financial trouble after spending vast amounts of money in a bid to return to the Premier League, but they managed to reach an agreement with HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) to settle a £4m bill and avoid going into administration. Eventually, the club were bought out by Egyptian Nassef Sawiris which helped ease the financial problems: they also managed to retain star player Jack Grealish despite significant interest from Premier League clubs.
The league season, however, did not start well for the Villans and after a 3-3 draw against Preston North End in the beginning of October (during which a supporter threw a cabbage at manager Steve Bruce), Bruce was sacked. At first, it seemed that the club intended on appointing Thierry Henry, but that move fell through and eventually they appointed Dean Smith, a boyhood Villa fan, after agreeing compensation with Brentford for his services.
Results improved under Smith and by early December the club were just a couple of points away from the promotion play-off places. However, in mid-December star man Jack Grealish suffered an injury and was ruled out till the end of February and consequently their form dipped; during January and February, they won just once and their promotion prospects looked slim, to say the least.
The return of Grealish proved pivotal as the club embarked on an unprecedented run of 10 consecutive wins which guaranteed them a place in the end-of-season play-offs as they finished the league in 5th place.
In the play-off semi-finals, Aston Villa faced near neighbours West Bromwich Albion and after finishing 2-2 on aggregate, Aston Villa eventually won 4-3 on penalties. They then faced Derby County in the final, and won
2-1 to secure promotion back to the top flight after a 3-year absence.
The contribution of Tammy Abraham last season to the team cannot be underestimated. Signed on loan from Chelsea, he scored a total of 25 goals (only Teemu Pukki scored more), and in addition provided 3 assists; however, he will not be with the Villans next season as he has returned back to parent club Chelsea.
The Manager
A boyhood Aston Villa fan, 48-year-old Dean Smith began his managerial career with Walsall in 2011 when he was initially appointed caretaker manager. During his time at Walsall the club made solid progress, establishing themselves firmly in the third tier (League 1). They made a fine start to the 2015/16 season and were performing very well, and by the end of November were lying in fourth before Smith left to take charge of second tier side Brentford.
During his time at Brentford, despite not being able to compete financially with the bigger teams in the League, he led the London club to 3 consecutive top-10 finishes whilst also gaining a track record for developing players, such as Ollie Watkins, Chris Mepham and John Egan (the latter two sold for substantial amounts of money). He was then eventually appointed Aston Villa manager in October 2018 and helped take the team back to the Premier League.
Smith is an attack-minded manager, and tends to favour a 4-2-3-1 formation. During his time as Aston Villa manager, he has deployed Conor Hourihane as a defensive midfielder and anchor man, with John McGinn playing slightly further forward, and Jack Grealish deployed as an attacking midfielder.
Although Aston Villa might struggle slightly from a defensive point of view, their attacking style of play will certainly be interesting to watch in the Premier League and it would not be surprising if the Villans cause a few surprises along the way.
Player to watch: John McGinn
Aged 24, Scottish international McGinn began his career at St Mirren, and during his time there he won the Scottish League Cup in 2013. He then moved to Hibernian in 2015, helping the club to win the Scottish Cup in 2016 and earn promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2017. He joined Aston Villa at the start of the 2018/19 seasons and this proved a very shrewd signing, both from a defensive and offensive point of view.
Going forward, he managed to score a total of 6 goals and provided 9 assists, as well as successfully completing 70 dribbles. From a defensive point of view, he was especially brilliant in the tackle, averaging a total of 2.1 tackles and 1 interception per game respectively. He was also very impressive in the Championship play-off final and was awarded Man of the Match.
It will certainly be interesting to see whether McGinn can maintain this form in the Premier League, and one could argue that if Aston Villa are to succeed next season, he will be crucial to the team. Of course, the step up to Premier League football will be a challenging one, but on previous evidence one would back McGinn to make the grade.
How have they strengthened this summer?
Aston Villa, it has to be said, have done a lot of their transfer business early, and have spent a substantial amount of money. They have managed to retain Anwar El-Ghazi, Kortney Hause and Tyrone Mings on a permanent basis. They did lose Axel Tuanzebe in defence as he returned to parent club Manchester United but have replaced him with Ezri Konsa from Brentford.
They also replaced striker Tammy Abraham (who they lost also as he returned to parent club Chelsea) with the club-record signing of striker Wesley from Club Brugge. Furthermore, it is understood that they have agreed with Manchester City to sign midfielder Douglas Luiz and have also completed a deal for Belgian defender Bjorn Engels from French side Reims – their spending has reportedly reached the £100m mark.
Critics may point out that by spending so much money, they are making the same mistake as Fulham did last season. However, this is not entirely correct – as firstly, by and large they have kept the core of the squad that helped them achieve promotion intact (3 of the signings made were converting loan deals of players into permanent ones), and secondly they were also not helped by the fact that a lot of players they had last season were on loan. In addition, there is a clear strategy behind the signings – most of the newcomers are young and have the potential to develop further (and may eventually be sold at a profit).
Therefore, it is worth noting that compared to the other two promoted teams Aston Villa have spent a lot of money. Does this guarantee that they will survive in the Premier League? Definitely not, but their spending is not as ill-advised as it may seem and may well prove to be very shrewd.
Can they survive in the Premier League?
Despite their success in the Championship last season, the Premier League is a clear step up and it will be far harder for Aston Villa.
Dean Smith is a talented manager and has certainly earned his first chance at managing a Premier League club. It is worth noting that it would probably have been less ideal for Aston Villa to have earned promotion via the play-offs (given that they achieved promotion three weeks later than the other two teams), however, it does not seem to have affected their transfer business.
Aston Villa may lack Premier League experience, however, on the other hand youth and a bit of inexperience might actually make them hungry to survive in the Premier League.